Here is a Dutch holiday cookie recipe that’s flavored with sugar and spice and everything nice! Some say this recipe is for kruidnoten (spice nuts), others know it better as pepernoten (pepper nuts). Whatever the history behind this is, all I know is that it tastes great!
Why wait for Sinterklaas? Make a batch to enjoy anytime!
50 g (1/4 cup) butter
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
2 tablespoon milk
150 g (1 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground anise
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
In a standing mixer, cream butter and sugar. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients with a wire whisk and set aside. Add dry ingredients plus milk to butter and sugar and work into a dough, using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Wrap dough tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Chilling the dough makes it easier to handle and lets the flavors develop.
Divide dough into 4-5 pieces. Work each piece into ropes (or snakes, if you prefer) about the thickness of your finger and cut off nugget-sized pieces.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet, bake at for 8-10 minutes or until darker and cracks form on the top. Cool on wire wrack before storing in airtight container. Makes about 160 pepernoten.
About 80 cookies can fit on one cookie sheet.
T h e F o o d e r y 
December 5, 2012 at 11:57
Fun. I love the Holiday Season! I’m going to be making my Mom’s German Christmas cookies, soon. One is Pffernusse, German for pepper nuts, and the other is Springerle. Both come from age old family recipes but the pfeffernusse has been modified from the original somewhat. The Pfferneuse uses 1 lb of milled pecans.
December 5, 2012 at 16:30
I made Pfeffernusse once loooong ago but can’t find my recipe book for it. I would LOVE to see your Springerle cookies turn out!
December 5, 2012 at 12:07
those are so cute! Are they soft or crunchy?
December 5, 2012 at 16:32
They’re SUPER crunchy! The Dutch tradition is that Sinterklaas passes these cookies out to boys and girls or leaves sweets for them in their shoes. :) If you like pumpkin pie spice, you’ll really enjoy these cookies!
December 6, 2012 at 08:28
I just love baking with spice! These pepernoten look warm and delicious. I have used nutmeg, cloves and the rest; but never anise in baking. Must try this! And I love Santa-hatted Snoopy :)
December 6, 2012 at 21:20
I love that Snoopy, too (from 1997!) Anise has a slight licorice smell/taste but it all comes together in these cookies, which are actually VERY crunchy little nuggets! :)
December 6, 2012 at 13:05
Always interesting culture to be found here. :) Reminds me of those little fried pieces of dough that the Norwegians eat. Can’t think of the name, tho.
December 6, 2012 at 21:27
Never had small-sized fried dough, except Tim Horton’s Timbits doughuts (maybe they got the idea from Norwegians!) The Dutch have oliebollen, fried sugar-dusted dough the size of plums. Hawaii has two kinds of popular deep-fried dough: malasadas, a Portuguese deep-fried sugar coated bready-type of dough, and the Okinawan andagi, which has a thicker, harder outside than the other donuts and are not sugar-coated. They’re all delicious, especially when made fresh! :)
December 6, 2012 at 13:20
I love the tradition! And they look really tasty. Reminds me that I need to get baking!
December 6, 2012 at 21:29
I hope to make this my new tradition for the holidays. Happy baking! :)
December 16, 2012 at 19:09
[…] that goes back several generations. Jennifer over at blog “The Foodery” did a post on Pepernoten, a Dutch Holiday cookie also known as pepper nuts. It reminded me of this recipe for Pffeferneuse […]